A trio of fine performances lead Last Flag Flying, a moving dramatic comedy that portrays the loyalty in brotherhood with emotional grit and tenderness.

There is a connection between those who served in the armed forces that can be understood by only a few. Amongst the blood, the grit and the sacrifice this connection is forged, and with them until their dying breath will it stay. Perhaps none more a connection can be found in those that served in Vietnam. There’s was the televised war, the war that created a counter revolution founded on peace yet driven by hate, and the war that ultimately lost both a conflict and a nation.

It was also a war that inspired an explosion of films from Hollywood. Mostly anti-war in nature, they are a what’s what of classic 1970s/80s cinema: The Deer Hunter, Apocalypse Now, Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July… another is the 1973 classic The Last Detail, directed by Hal Ashby and starring Jack Nicholson (who received his third Oscar nomination). Based on the novel by Darryl Ponicsan, Last Flag Flying is a sequel to The Last Detail in novel form, yet tweeked here and there in cinematic form by director Richard Linklater to become a “spiritual” sequel of sorts.

The film stars Steve Carell as Larry “Doc” Shepherd, a Vietnam veteran who asks his estranged Marine buddies Sal Nealon (Bryan Cranston) and Reverend Richard Mueller (Laurence Fishburne) to help bury his only son, who died during his tour of duty in Iraq. What follows is essentially a road trip drama, fuelled by the depth found in its character and the connection shared between this unlikely trio whose bond was forged in war.

Last Flag Flying marks the 20th movie from director Richard Linklater, and in many ways, it is one of his best. Linklater usually does not adapt other works, and the track record when he does can be shaky at best (Bad News Bears, Newton Boys). Yet Ponicson’s novel provides the perfect elements in which Linklater can weave his magic, a character driven story with a unique sense of time yet timeless in its themes and filmmaking.

The trio of lead performers deliver some of the best work of their respective careers. Cranston is all crass and confidence, bringing the right amount of energy to a character of no filter yet high moral scruples; Fishburne is both hilarious and knowing, bringing that gravitas to a character who has matured from his wild past; and Carell delivers his best dramatic turn yet as a meek yet idealistic widower, whose pain both past and current marks the emotional centre upon which the story revolves.

The connection between these three characters, and the actors who portray them, are compelling in its depth and intimacy. Linklater brings them to life with fine skill and touch, making Last Flag Flying a movie to be engrossed in and embrace whole.